What I got from my mom...

I think we all absorb things from our mom that we're hardly even aware of. 

Who am I? 

Why do I do things the way I do? 

What did I get in the gene pool from my mom? 

What did I learn from mom when I was growing up and beyond? 

I started thinking about these questions in the run-up to Mother's Day and
 I wanted to share some of my thoughts about my own dear mom.

Way back when this picture was taken, probably on a Sunday, 

mom was an industrious homemaker who was never idle. 

We were probably just about ready to eat the roast, potatoes and carrots 

that were in the pot on the stove. 

Those traditional Sunday dinners created so many memories of good scents in the kitchen. 

Mom was busy then, and she STILL is... cooking for her household and her many, many guests, working in the yard, doing things for people, doing the right thing. 

Any of these skills and traits that I have, I learned from her.

This was the era when she cranked out amazing matching Easter dresses every year for us three girls, and I definitely picked up this behavior! It's kind of fun - and crazy, too! 

She's very creative and skilled and has a definite eye for beauty.

Mom is very hopeful about people; willing to spend time listening and also thinking, then giving good advice that will help them. She's not sappy or sentimental about what people share... although what they say might make her cry. She can see through the "static" to the heart of the issue. 

That's why people feel that she really helps them. 

Mom has studied and read many books and attended seminars related to 

counseling and encouraging people and she's able to take what she's learned 

and share it with others in a direct and helpful way.

I'm not sure I'm like this... well maybe a little... but I really admire it.

Mother has always been content with her life and doesn't compare herself to others 

or wish her life was different. I don't hear her talking about how old she is 

or what she can't do anymore. 

(Well, there's not much she can't do, but that's beside the point.) 

She takes her concerns to the Lord in prayer and then leaves them with Him.

I think I learned contentment from her.

Mom has always had very pretty hands.

Family is super important to my mother! She's careful to remember special days 

(Luke's graduation, above), she loves her daughters, grandkids and great grandkids 

and works to be part of all of their lives - but doesn't tell them what to do! 

She keeps up with them on Facebook, reads their blogs, 

gets or makes PJs for all the many great grands for Christmas and loves the babies!! 

The grandkids ask her to babysit their babies and kids and she does it!! 

She's a great example to me in the area of family and extended family.

Here she is, holding baby Lars at the beauty shop while Gretchen does someone's hair. 

At Christmas, she's enjoying watching little Wyatt get his veggies while 

Gretchen, Anders and Daddy are kickin' back too.

We love celebrating Christmas and other holidays at Mom and Dad's house! 

Here are Erin, Garrett, Wyatt and Jim, having a good time two Christmases ago.

When our Texas grandkids came out for our "Camp Grandma," she was thrilled to 

see them at church while Aunt Gretchen looked on. She and Dad met up with them again 

at the concert in the park in Uptown Whittier.

Madeline and Sam, with my mom.

Here's our Camp Grandma visit to "Grammie and Poppa's"... 

... on the bench are David, Grammie and Poppa

Sitting on the porch: Abigail, Madeline, Sam and Anders.

Holding Lars last Christmas, mom sits next to her brother, Elmer.

Mom has spent quite a bit of time with Anders and they have a sweet relationship. 

She laughs easily, too!

Mom loves us girls and is very interested in all of us. We all inherited her overactive tear ducts, which I think we would all rather not have, but there you are. I also inherited her nose, which I don't really mind, overall. I did inherit her hair color, which stays brown longer, so it's a trade-off.

Mom appreciates beauty and I think her strong artistic ability was passed down to me and several other family members. I remember as kids we would pull out her portfolio of watercolor paintings from her Art Major days in college and admire the various scenes.

 I have strong memories of beautiful flower arrangements she made for the house with peach blossoms, poinsettias, irises, gladiolas, and other flowers that she grew. 

There were a few years when she even silk screened the family Christmas cards!

Mom is a good cook, and likes to try new recipes. Here she is making waffles on the waffle iron that they got for a wedding present! No wonder it was working kind of slow! 64 years? 

I got this same interest in cooking from her.

See these pies? She made the crusts from scratch. Yum.

This is mom's compost container. 

She works it, collects stuff for it, processes all the fresh garbage in it 

and shovels it onto her healthy vegetable garden. 

No wonder everything around their property is bursting with life and health! 

The orange tree, tangerine tree, lime tree, apple tree and peach tree 

give them all kinds of produce every year. She makes the apples into applesauce, 

peels and slices apples and peaches for freezer pies, trims back the trees along with dad, 

and takes pride in the garden. 

I got some of her hard working tenacity, but I never work this hard in my garden!

She and daddy love their fruit trees and practically know every piece of fruit by name!

As a wife, mom is the ideal counterpart to an extroverted visionary man (my dad). 

While she probably wouldn't have thought of that stuff herself, she's quite willing to go along for the ride and get involved, lending her own talents and gifts along the way. 

She got over any fear of flying long ago, and has flown, driven, ridden, and sailed all over the world with daddy... hardly ever for "vacations," but almost always doing some kind of ministry. She's slept on the floors of many churches and stayed with people she doesn't know lots and lots of times. 

I think that's pretty awesome for someone inclined to be an introvert.

Above, they're arriving in Malta where dad will speak, and so will mom. They were greeted at the airport by the press and someone gave mom those flowers. 

Her willingness to do all kinds of things without making a fuss niggles at the back of my mind, helping me have more of a can-do spirit and not be a fearful complainer.

When we were growing up, I didn't hear mom berating dad or tearing him down. He's full of ideas of offbeat things to do and I never heard her saying, "Robert, the girls won't want to do that!" No, she was a good sport and enjoyed the journey. This has been a helpful memory for me through the years and has reminded me how to respect and enjoy my husband.

Knocking around the kitchen together...

50th Anniversary celebration in 1998

This was mom's reaction when Daddy surprised her 

by flying Luanne over from the Philippines for her 80th birthday. 

That was the best surprise he's ever come up with!

Mom is frugal and hates to waste money. While numbers aren't really her thing, 

she knows innately that it's better not to spend the money, if you want some to still be there. 

I picked up this frugality from her, but possibly in a diluted form.

I like these birthday pictures... 

She keeps having birthdays but looks to the future and doesn't seem to get any older.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. 

And thank you Lord, for giving me Barbara Jane Shreve Seelye as my mom.